The present invention relates generally to electric heaters and more particularly to wall-mounted electric heaters.
Conventional electric heaters, which are designed to provide auxiliary heat for individual rooms or spaces within a house, are typically small, portable units that sit on the floor. These conventional units typically have a standard length power cord which is adapted to be plugged into one of the receptacles of a wall-mounted electrical outlet. Because the possibility exists with these conventional units that the unit can be exposed to standing water while the unit is still receiving power through the power cord, the use of these units in bathrooms, where standing water is commonplace, clearly poses a risk of electrocution.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,422 to H. K. Streich et al., there is described a wall-mounted heater assembly with plug mount and support. The heater assembly includes a cover, heater means disposed within the cover for generating heat only when electrical power is received, a fan disposed within the cover for forcing cool air into the cover to be heated by the heater means and for discharging heated air out of the cover, a power plug that is mateable directly with a wall-mounted electrical receptacle to provide power to the heater means only when the plug is mated with the receptacle, means for mounting the plug directly in the cover so that the plug acts to directly support the cover only when the plug is mated with the receptacle, and a pair of support legs situated on the cover below the plug and extending in a backward direction for contacting the wall below the receptacle so as to prevent the plug from being pulled out the receptacle due to the weight of the heater assembly.
As can be appreciated, one advantage of the above-described wall-mounted heater assembly, as compared to conventional electric heaters, is that power is immediately cut off from the unit when the heater assembly becomes disengaged from the wall, i.e., when the plug is removed from the receptacle. Accordingly, the heater assembly is not likely to come into contact with standing water while it is receiving electricity.
One disadvantage with the above-described wall-mounted heater assembly is that, when it is plugged into a receptacle, it is maintained therein solely by the action of the support legs, which as noted above, merely reduces the torque on the plug so as to prevent the plug from being pulled out of the receptacle due to the weight of the assembly. Neither the support legs nor any other feature of the above-described heater assembly prevents the plug from being accidentally removed from the receptacle (and, consequently, the assembly from becoming disengaged from the wall) if the heater is pulled away from the wall, as would be the case if a child were to pull on the unit or if someone or something were to inadvertently brush up against the unit.